


Shall Gentle His Condition

by 1f_this_be_madness



Series: Storm the Court and Save the King [5]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode: s01e08 The Beginning of the End, Fate & Destiny, Gen, Good Mordred (Merlin), Good Morgana (Merlin), Introspection, Magic, Merlin-centric (Merlin), Protective Merlin, Season/Series 01, Season/Series 05, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:21:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26315608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1f_this_be_madness/pseuds/1f_this_be_madness
Summary: What is destiny, really, for a boy of the wilds who learns of the lord of the dragons, and the girl whose rage will undo the land. What destiny can change them, can bind them better than the one they originally knew? Is there such a one? What is that destiny?(Or an alternative look at Mordred and Morgana, and through Merlin's eyes, what they might have become)
Relationships: Merlin & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Merlin & Mordred (Merlin), Merlin & Morgana (Merlin)
Series: Storm the Court and Save the King [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1912063
Comments: 2
Kudos: 44





	Shall Gentle His Condition

When Kilgharrah spake of destiny, Merlin wanted to scream.

He had done, before; often, or it seemed that often he would call upon the dragon in fury, to demand what he was playing at, to say that it was Merlin's destiny to deal with a prattish clodpole of a princeling, without any foreseeable reward for it, save to know that he would, by serving Arthur, somehow usher in the golden age of Camelot.

If the prince, or magic, or the cruelty of the current king did not destroy him first, or cause him to run mad, at least.

He wanted to help Mordred, he did. When those big blue eyes initially lit on him and the voice, humming with magic, with a power not wholly akin to his own, but similar, begged for aid - it hit Merlin, dragged him into the surety that he must help this child, this being like him, or what is he? What warlock, what sort of aid to the good King Arthur that would be, if he did not assist this boy? If he did not listen to Morgana, in her seeing, in her dreams? Had he not heard Kilgharrah speak of either ill, what world would there be, without end to the extent of druidic power; Mordred and his people might have assisted Morgana, and he might have bridged a gap between them, the dearth of knowledge and shared experience, of understanding and recognition of the trials present within a kingdom wherein magic is abhorrent and those who practise it are summarily put to death.

If Merlin could have let himself see past the so-called destiny of a person and a place, if he had seen solely a frightened boy with too much power to hide, someone who wanted only to live, and another who desired only to come to terms with, to understand herself... So much could have been mended before growing broken. So much good could have flourished, change wrought from acts so small.

Forever now emblazoned in his pain is the agonising thought of gentleness in his condition. In hers, in Camelot's. 

So much could change, in just one instance, just one day.

**Author's Note:**

> There is so much of sorrow in this show, so many slight alterations to the choices characters made, and I find musing over them a wonderfully tragic thought exercise. And I really just loathe the uselessness of Kilgharrah in-show. Ugh
> 
> Long live the stories of King Arthur, and of the fans of this show
> 
> Comments appreciated <3


End file.
